So, sorry, but a degree is NOT an universal or automatic signifier of the ability to do a particular job.
I actually want to agree with this - and I want to agree with this from the stand point of someone who has two bachelors (a BA and a BSc), an HND, and two Masters (an MA and an MSc)
A degree will not guarentee you a job. Even in feilds like medicine and law, it's not a given that you will be able to get a job.
There is a big focus now on vovational training - but equally there are people who spent four years at teacher training college only to spend the next two years working in Burger King while they try to find a teaching post.
That said, in a lot of feilds a degree, any degree, is essential. In my day job there is a requirement for a degree. They don't care what it's in, but you need a degree. It;s more about showing that you can follow projects through and commit yourself long term to things as it is to show how capable you are of doing the work.
Getting a degree enabled me to double my salary.
But a university education isn't for everyone.
The main thing here is to have a back up plan, any plan, that will keep the wolf from the door while you follow your dreams.
That plan can be a job. But it's important to have SOMETHING there that you just aren't walking out of a course and striking off in an aimless direction.
Valuable maybe. But not worth the money. Simply put, I know I'm getting ripped off/overcharged for my education. But in the end I put it with it not for the sake of learning, but to attain financial security (also known as a job).
The only time a university education is too expensive is when it's wasted on someone who doesn't want it.
To date I've spent just under £50k on my education (over the course of 10 years). And I have plans that will mean another £30k at the new fee rate for my chosen University. But most of it was in the form of bursaries, grants, student loans and working my ass off at a part time and then a full time job.
Is it worth it? Personally I think yes. I got so much out of it, and I'm in the postion now where I'm earning more per year than I have spent in the last 10 on that education, and it wouldn't ahve been possible without my degree.
I don't agree that a BA is worthless. I graduated on 25th November and offered an NHS job on the 30th. A degree is only worthless, when you don't engage with the intellect it has developed.
Bolding mine. See my point above about a degree is only expensive when it's wasted.
Talent is only one side of the equation. Accomplishment is the other side. There are oodles of people who have talent, but who haven't (yet?) turned that talent into accomplishment. We see several examples here at AW, where some new writers can't seem to finish their projects. They may have incredible writing talent, but unless they turn that talent into accomplishment (and finish something) they will never succeed in the writing business. There are talented people in all areas of society who are just not finishers, so their talent goes to waste (and they are not the best employee candidates).
This.
And also, just to highlight something. Those writers who are good, work hard and have a good solid publishing career have spent YEARS building it up.
And even then there is no guarentee of success.
It can take years to get published, and years after that to make a full time living from it, if ever.
But in the meantime you have to eat and I assume you want to sleep indoors. And this is why a backup plan is vital.
(The following does not apply to the OP). There are no guarantees in a university education because it all depends on what the student wants to put into it. It's a shame some students waste their college opportunities. Every semester, I have students who do not come to class except for exam days, and they fail those exams big-time (I had one student get a 7% on an exam recently - random guesses could result in a slightly better grade). Maybe these students have talents outside of a college education. But I'd bet a paycheck they will take the same disinterested and disjointed performance to their jobs as they took to their college courses.
I see it every day at work, and when I used to teach I saw it there too. Some people just aren't interested, and increasingly people are looking at university as rite of passage, a time of parties and piss ups and a chance to put real life on hold for another three years. Every year I see fewwer and fewer students who are there to learn and gain. And I've been in education for 10 years straight and have seen a lot of students over the years.
Is a university education for everyone? Absolutely not. Do people without a university education have the opportunity for accomplishments every bit as important as those of university graduates? Absolutely. Is there some objective basis to the valuation of the universtiy degree by employers? Yes. Do I think the same value can be gleaned from non-university experience and accomplishment? Yes, and I can't explain why some employers don't realize this--that a track record is just as valuable as a diploma.
For sure.
